A Jungle Adventure

I decked out the classroom in a Jungle theme, which actually began even before school started when I mailed each child their own Chicka Chicka Boom Boom postcard.  I made a matching bulletin board to go with it, with a letter for each child's first initial.  Centers were really fun to create with animal costumes in the Dramatic play area:

And some animal puppets too!  The kids put on some fantastic little shows for us through the puppet window.

I had Crocodile Dentist on the puzzle table but he quickly got broken, so he became a water table toy which I think was even more fun!  Miss Anna made our water swampy by adding green food coloring, and I added small plastic animals for the crocodile to chomp down on.  The kids loved seeing how many animals could fit in his mouth and it became a great opportunity for counting when I'd ask how many were inside his mouth.

The sand was full of jungle animals and little trees that the kids loved to dig deep into the sand and section off areas.

At circle time we read some fantastic animal books like:

• Lion's Lunch?
  
• Hilda Must Be Dancing
• Rumble in the Jungle
• On Noah's Ark
  
• Ten Naughty Little Monkeys (possibly the favorite!)

We made fun "Snake Tracks" during craft time by cutting strips of yarn, dipping it in paint and then dragging it across the paper.  This gave us a chance to talk about snakes in the jungle but also relate it to the snake in our bible story when we talked about Adam and Eve sinning in the garden of Eden.

I hope you enjoyed taking a trip through the jungle with me!